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Thursday, December 10, 2015

Hitachi Data Systems
Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., has released its
Business and Technology Predictions for Asia Pacific in 2016. According to
Adrian De Luca, chief technology officer of Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific,
enterprises will experience major digital transformation next year as they
strive to improve a host of key tech and non-tech functions.

“Digital
transformation is fast becoming an organizational issue. It is no longer just
CIOs who are championing the need for digital change, but leaders across all
business functions. For example, CMOs are finding that traditional ways of
marketing are not as effective any more, while CFOs are discovering that
consumer and supplier transaction models have shifted. There is now an almost
universal understanding within businesses that all functions need to look at
how they transform their own practices through digitization,” said De Luca.

He cited digital
transformation, smart cities, cross modal IT, multicloud, and skills shortages
as the five key trends that will continue to shape both the IT and business
landscapes in Asia Pacific for 2016.

#1: Traditional
enterprises will transform into digital natives

There has been a
resurgence in confidence among CIOs that they will see more of their revenues
flowing through digital channels. According to the Gartner CIO Agenda
Insights report, only 16% of CIOs
last year expected the revenues in their business to flow through digital
channels, but that has more than doubled this year to 37%. This is recognition
of the fact that digital initiatives are not just coming from the CIO, but from
all functions of the business that are creating their own platforms and hiring
digital natives.

Today’s CMOs no longer
go to the IT department to build their systems. They go directly to the
providers and acquire them as a service. The same is true of businesses as a
whole. Rather than waiting for a vendor or a competitor to develop a new
platform, organizations are building and actively disrupting their own current
systems.

#2: Smart companies will build smart cities

Smart cities have been
a topic of interest for a long time in Asia Pacific, with many countries in the
region rolling out their own initiatives to tackle everything from public safety to improved transportation. However, it has become
apparent that few governments have the experience or the financial means to
build and run these initiatives on their own. Instead, they are partnering with
major industry players who are investing deeply in the Internet of Things
(IoT). By bringing their own intellectual property, assembling ecosystems of
technology providers and integrating them together, they can develop the
solutions needed to make these cities a reality.

This means that smart
companies will act as the catalysts for making smart cities a reality, as
governments open the door through initiatives like Digital India, Smart Nation
Singapore, and Digital China. The business opportunities for companies in the
sector are huge, with the annual smart city investment in technology alone set
to quadruple to US$11.3 billion by 2023, according to Navigant Research.

#3: Cross-modal IT
will unify business silos

It is now recognized
that there are two modes that IT organizations can follow to meet the needs of
the digital enterprise.

Mode 1 – Applications
that handle traditional systems of record – such as CRM and ecommerce systems.
These systems are built around predictability, accuracy and availability, given
the sensitive data they hold.

Mode 2 – Systems of
insight, that are more exploratory such as big data analytics. They give a
perspective of what is going on inside a business – enabling users to test
certain hypotheses by layering datasets over each other. These systems emphasize
agility and speed, giving organizations the ability to quickly and
inexpensively test ideas, throw away anything that doesn't work and test out
new ones.

The need to fuse these
two modes together to become cross-modal will intensify. Especially as organizations strive
to continually optimize the cost of running their systems and incorporate their
systems of insight into new business processes and customer interactions.

The companies that
will realize the greatest benefits will be those that are able to use agile
methodologies in their workforce and offer quick-to-build application
programming interfaces (API) of their business services. Businesses that
also successfully build data lakes across their digital assets and standardize
their infrastructure will do well, too.

#4: Multicloud will
enable transregional business

According to De Luca,
the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) promises to bring significant
benefits to economic trading conditions within Asia-Pacific. To realize the
full potential of this agreement, investment in technology infrastructure to
connect these economies will be critical. Several companies are already
expanding data center capacity to cater to the growing use of cloud computing.
They are also investing in improving cross-border, high-speed connectivity. The
creation of direct routes between key areas like South East Asia, Australia and
the United States of America is well underway.

“This opening up of
the market will have an impact on how businesses consume cloud and expand the
options that they have today. With as many as 70% of organizations either using
or evaluating hybrid clouds nowadays, as well as provisions in the TPP to
protect offshore data and avoid electronic duties, creating a multicloud across
continental borders to allow businesses to expand becomes viable,” said De
Luca.

#5: Skills shortage
will spark a talent pursuit

Several
factors will impact the technology employment market in 2016, forcing many
organizations to look at how they will fill the talent deficit to continue to
innovate and remain competitive.

Addressing
the IT skills shortage will not just be about pumping out more IT graduates
with in-demand skills like data science. Appealing to the interests of the best
young talent while investing in increasing the productivity of existing
employees will be critical to bridging the gap over the long run.

"The
working practices of ‘Gen Z’ workers are vastly different from those before
them. With this generation expected to work an average of 17 jobs in their
lifetime, they will develop a broader variety of skills as well as be exposed
to multiple industries during their careers. Companies will need to figure out
how to tap into this. They are driven more by their contribution to society
than the logo of the company they work for,” said De Luca.

Governments
recognize this economic imperative and generational shift by changing the labor
market, introducing new tax incentives and passing laws to allow for easier
investment, such as through crowdsourcing. Continual learning is also becoming
a focus for governments, with Singapore investing SG$1.2 billion (US$0.9
billion) in technology development to drive improvements within its public
sector.

In
addition to De Luca’s predictions for Asia Pacific, Hu Yoshida, global chief
technology officer of HDS, has revealed on his blog his predictions about the
top 10 global IT trends for 2016.

JDA Software Group, Inc., has announced that Ace Hardware will expand its JDA footprint with JDA Space
and Category Management solutions
which include JDA Floor Planning, JDA Category Knowledge Base (formerly Intactix Knowledge Base), JDA Web Publisher and JDA Assortment Optimization. The
investment demonstrates Ace’s commitment to continuously improving the shopping
experience for its customers as well as Ace’s confidence in JDA, a
long-standing solution provider to Ace.

With
more than 4,800 hardware stores locally owned and operated across the globe,
Ace is the largest hardware cooperative in the industry. Ace selected JDA due
to its ease-of-use and deep analytical capabilities and its 20-year history of
success leveraging JDA solutions. Ace’s existing JDA footprint includes JDA
Space Planning, JDA Advanced Warehouse Replenishment as well as a broad
implementation of JDA Demand and Fulfillment,
where the initial implementation yielded a $27 million reduction in inventory
and $475,000 annual savings in decreased space requirements.

“Inventory
and selling space are scarce yet critical retail assets. To be competitive, you
can’t make bad investments in either of them,” said Andy Voelker, director of
Category Management and Retail Development, Ace Hardware Corporation. “While
JDA Floor Planning and Space Planning will enable us to design plans to help
our retailers maximize productivity of their retail space, JDA Assortment
Optimization will improve our precision in selecting locally relevant products
that best meet our customers’ varying needs without incurring costly
overstocks.”

Historically,
Ace Hardware relied on manual, spreadsheet-based planning processes for
assortment and store layout planning. Improving the customer experience
requires more floor, space, and assortment plans, so Ace also selected JDA
Category Knowledge Base to simplify, support, and synchronize their category
management data, plans, and processes. Not only will JDA Category Knowledge
Base improve category management visibility and drive planner productivity, but
with JDA Web Publisher, Ace will be able to more effectively communicate with
stores and distribute plans and revisions.

“Ace
Hardware is a long-standing JDA customer, and advancing their category
management capabilities will create new advantages for them in an increasingly
competitive retail segment,” said Todd McCourtie, senior solutions strategy
director, JDA. “As today’s omni-channel environment becomes more complex,
retailers such as Ace Hardware need to balance being nimble, addressing
customers’ needs, and remaining profitable.”

Campus Management International,
a leading provider of enterprise software products and services for higher
education, has announced that Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT)
group, one of India’s top-ranked group of educational institutes, has chosen
CampusNexus – including CampusNexus Student; CampusNexus CRM and CampusNexus
Finance, HR & Payroll – to transform its operations and improve student
recruitment and retention.

Through its CampusNexus suite,
Campus Management International will enable MIT to implement programs focused
on recruitment and retention, centralizing and automating key processes and
administrative functions, and improving student services. From an operational
perspective, nearly every department and job function (admissions, academics,
student accounts, finance, human resources and payroll, inventory management,
procurement handling and compliance management) will benefit from the
efficiencies, data and access CampusNexus provides.

“Our work with Campus Management
International goes well beyond the typical customer / vendor relationship. A
formidable partner, Campus Management International, provides us with the
flexibility necessary to deliver innovative educational models, increase
meaningful communications with students and prospects and better manage
back-end functions, without increasing resources. Ultimately, CampusNexus will
help MIT group to take the lead in establishing new standards for student
service in the higher education sector in India,” said Dr. Sunil Karad.
Executive Director- MIT Group of Institutions.

“As competition to acquire and
retain students continues to increase, CampusNexus provides the necessary
technology platform to enable institutions to build and implement programs
across campuses and functions, and ultimately deliver true value to students,”
said Raj Mruthyunjayappa, Managing Director-Campus Management International.
“We look forward to continuing to work with MIT group to utilize the
CampusNexus suite to achieve strategic goals and expand their constituent
experience.”

Prasanna Purple
Mobility Solutions, a
pioneer in surface mobility solutions with over 25 years of experience in
passenger mass transit operations, today announced the automation of all its
business operations using the Tally.ERP 9 software package from Tally Solutions
Pvt. Limited (TSPL). The company is now covering a range of operations, from
accounting to multipart inventory management using Tally.ERP 9.

The company, which operates an array of
mobility solutions like City and Intercity buses, Bus and Car rentals,
corporate and school bus services, was facing challenges in effectively
managing their operational costs and inventory with the ERP that they had
deployed, which required hiring exceptionally trained man-power which was
extremely expensive to on-board. In 2012, after a year of struggling with their
existing ERP solution, the company started using the inventory module in
Tally.ERP 9, a software they had so far used only for financial accounting.

After using Tally.ERP 9, the company
significantly optimized their revenue within 6 months of solution deployment,
while reducing downtime of vehicles. With Tally.ERP 9, the company could now
track spare part life and mileage of each vehicle with greater precision, thus
reducing spare parts costs from over Rs 50L to about INR 35L. Fuel consumption
which was earlier at 40% decreased by 2% as the lifespan of each spare part
could be tracked and replacements could be done well in advance. The company’s
procurement process became much smoother and streamlined, with the ability to
handle 4000 spare part records for their Pune office alone. The time to manage
their multipart inventory reduced by 80%, while overall efficiency in managing
operations increased by over 50%.

“We have seen phenomenal results in our
business after switching over to Tally.ERP 9 from ‘Oracle Financials’
ERP," said Prasanna Patwardhan, Chairman & MD, Prasanna Purple
Mobility Solutions Pvt. Limited. “With its ease of use and cost effectiveness,
Tally.ERP 9 has helped us to achieve remarkable results in inventory management
and overall operational efficiency,” he added further.

Tally Integration partner, Dexterity Techsys
Pvt. Ltd., implemented
Tally.ERP 9 for Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions and customized Tally’s
inventory module to make provision for capturing data related to Odo Meter
reading, Daily running and Standard Life of spare parts in kilometres. This
helped the company take corrective actions in operations. The customized
solution also provided a unique report that could forecast the Replacement of
Spare parts there by helping the management in preparing their Monthly
Procurement plan. This almost eliminated loss of time between the generation of
requirement and transport of the required spare parts to the repair shop and in
turn led to significant reduction in downtime of vehicles and increase in the
revenue.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The tech-savy state of
Karnataka will incubate about 20,000startupsby 2020 to create six lakh
direct and 12 lakh indirect jobs, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.

“We are setting up a start-up cell as a one-stop-shop to help
young entrepreneurs float start-ups and guide them in launching their ventures
as they will have little knowledge of corporate affairs,” said Siddaramaiah.

The 18th edition of Karnataka’s
premier IT summit, BangaloreITE.biz 2015 kicked off on Tuesday with the
government reinforcing its commitment to reposition Karnataka, especially
Bengaluru, as the IT capital and the innovation hub of the country with its
startup initiatives.

Inaugurating the event, Siddaramaiah said the state will
incubate about 20,000 startups to create six lakh direct and six lakh indirect
jobs.

“As part of this initiative, we are setting up a startup cell
as a one-stop-shop to help young entrepreneurs float startups and guide them in
launching their ventures as they will have little knowledge of corporate
affairs,” he said.

Noticing the flourishing startup ecosystem backed by major IT
companies, the state government came up with its startup policy 2015-2020. The
policy promotes entrepreneurship by setting up incubation centres, visualises
partnership in research and development, and finding early stage funding.

“With hundreds of entrepreneurs setting up startups here,
Bengaluru is emerging also as the country’s startup capital after it became the
IT capital over a decade ago,” he said, adding the government has constituted a
startup council under his chairmanship to review the implementation of the
startup policy and give feedback.

The Karnataka startup policy, which covers IT, BT and
manufacturing sectors, is the outcome of the state government’s ‘Karnataka I-4’
initiative that was launched in 2014. Speaking at the event, Principal
Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Manjula V (IAS) said the startup
policy envisages to bring its ecosystem beyond Bengaluru.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Software services giant Infosys will expand its operations in Ireland, doubling
the number of staff in the country to 500 in three years and setting up its
first product-centric research and development centre outside India.

“I am
delighted to welcome 250 new jobs at Infosys. This is a vote of confidence in
Ireland, our great workforce and our reputation as a hub for technology and
innovation,” said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kennym.

“The
government wants to keep the recovery going by providing the right environment
for companies like Infosys to locate, expand and create jobs.”

The
expansion will see the Bangalore-headquartered firm create up to 95 roles at
its first dedicated product-centric research and development (R&D) centre
outside India, and open a second Irish facility to house up to 155 people who
will provide IT services to Infosys clients.

The new
roles are in addition to more than 250 employees that are already working for
Infosys in Ireland.

Infosys
intends to develop new technologies and support innovation in global financial
institutions as part of the expansion plans, which have been supported by
Ireland’s Department of Jobs through IDA Ireland.

“Much like
Ireland, Infosys has based its growth on a foundation of education, lifelong
learning and a deep commitment to innovation. Infosys is already working with
clients in Ireland helping them explore new ways of working and advancing, by
embracing technology-led innovation,” said Vishal Sikka, CEO and managing director
of Infosys.

“We want to
build on this early success. With an ecosystem of like-minded partners in
Ireland, we will pursue new ideas and new ways to solve the greatest challenges
of our times — the important things that only human imagination and ingenuity
can achieve.”

India’s digital commerce
market is likely to touch US$128 billion in 2017 from the current level of US$42
billion on the back of higher mobile and Internet penetration and
mobile-commerce sales, says a study.

“Increasing
mobile and Internet penetration, m-commerce sales, advanced shipping and
payment options, exciting discounts, and push into new international markets by
e-businesses are the major drivers of this unprecedented growth,” said a joint study
by Assocham-Deloitte.

The Indian
digital commerce market is expected to reach $128 billion in 2017 from the
current level of $42 billion, it added.

However,
Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said the supply chain and logistics in
e-commerce business are highly complex to manage in a vast country like India
where infrastructure is not well-developed to reach every remote and rural
area.

“The
taxation policies for the e-businesses are not well-defined depending on
different business models and transaction type. The complexity has further
amplified with transactions happening across borders for online selling of
goods and services,” said Rawat.

The
e-commerce companies are building communities on social media networks to
better understand customer needs and drive effective marketing strategies, the
study observed.

It also
said, the government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ project that aims to offer a
one-stop shop for government services will further bolster the sector by
introducing internet and broadband to remote corners of the country and
increase trade.

This
initiative through a targeted investment of nearly $17 billion will transform
India into a connected economy, attract investment in electronics manufacturing
and create millions of jobs, said Rawat.

The study
further pointed out that dedicated e-commerce laws are required to address
issues in the sector’s legal and regulatory framework and banks must play a
leading role as ’facilitators’ by offering cost effective cash management
solutions, secure payment gateways and other relevant banking services.

Monday, December 7, 2015

New York headquartered
Genpact Limited,a multinational business process
outsourcing and information technology services company, is planning to set up
its 5th centre in India by next year and also contemplating to recruit 10,000
people in India by 2016.

As one of the largest
analytics providers worldwide, Genpact had already have four centres --
Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kalkatta and Gurugoan and is hiring 12,000 people every
year, Genpact Financial Services Analytics Head and Vice-Presiden, Mr Amit
Bhaskar said told reporters after signing a MoU with Hyderabad-based ICFAI
Business School (IBS),one of the top tier business schools in India, to develop
an analytics and research program for its students here today.

Business solutions provider,
Genpact Ltd, will be 3,000 in Hyderabad, said the officials.

He said a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been inked with ICFAI Business School
(IBS), Hyderabad to develop an analytics and research programme for its
students here on Monday.

The location
of the proposed new centre has not been decided.

Referring to
the MoU, Bhaskar said there was huge demand and supply gap in analytics.
Genpact alone hires 1,400 to 1,500 in analytics every year globally, he said.

As part the
understanding, experts from Genpact will train students of MBA at IBS to
specialise in analytics. "Upon successful completion of the programme,
students will be eligible for employment in analytics practice at Genpact,’’ he
said, adding that they however, will have to undergo regular selection process
of the company.

In the next
12 months, Genpact is also planning to forge more partnerships with academic
institutions in the UK, US and Australia, among others.

According to
S Venkata Seshaiah, Director, IBS, the partnership will help students to
understand industry happenings and make them ready to take up challenging jobs.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp
have played a crucial role in spreading messages to help marooned citizens in
flood ravaged Chennai, with many offering voluntary services and establishing
contact with loved ones through these medium.

Though several areas were inundated in last
week's heavy rains, people still managed to post messages seeking help or
sharing information about those ready to offer help.

A Twitter user, Shreyasi Ghosh took to the social media to seek help for a
pregnant woman in heavily waterlogged Mudichur near Tambaram.

Mobile handset maker OnePlus has partnered with Ola to enable
users to purchase its OnePlus X handset through the taxi aggregator's platform.

This is the first ever instance in India where
consumers can purchase a smartphone without an invite for a day and have it
delivered at their doorsteps within 15 minutes of placing the order, Ola said
in a statement.

The offer will go live on the Ola mobile app
only on December 8, 2015, across seven cities - Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru,
Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, between 1000 hours and 1900 hours.

By clicking on the 'ONEPLUSX' category icon, an
Ola cab will arrive at the customer's location along with a representative from
OnePlus with the smartphone.

Customers will get a choice of paying for their
OnePlus X handsets through cash (Cash On Delivery) or credit/debit cards.

"We continue to deliver unique experiences to delight
our consumers by giving users a chance to buy a smartphone on-demand, straight
from the Ola app and get it delivered at their doorstep within minutes," said
Sudarshan Gangrade, Ola Vice-President - Marketing.

Currently, the OnePlus X is exclusively
available on Amazon.in through an invite only route.

"People love our products and we are
enhancing the experience by making it even more convenient for our fans to get
their hands on an OnePlus phone now," said Karan Sarin, OnePlus Marketing
Head (India).

Accenture is
teaming with Code.org to support global participation in Hour of Code, one of the world’s largest educational
events, designed to prove anyone can learn the basics of coding,
have fun doing it, then continue learning beyond one hour. Thousands of
Accenture employees around the world have pledged to complete nearly 8,000 Hours of Code during
Computer Science Education Week (December 7-13). This number is expected to grow as Accenture employees
commit to an Hour of Code and volunteer to work with teachers and Code.org to
help students learn the basics of computer science at local schools and events
through fun, game-like online lessons.

Organized by
Code.org, the Hour of Code brings together more than 350 partner organizations and tens of
millions of students in every country around the world. The
campaign culminates with a massive
coding event the week of Dec 7-13, with 191,000 registered events. The goal of
the grassroots movement is to empower every student in every school with the opportunity to learn computer science. By starting
early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career
path.

“We are aligned
with Code.org’s mission and vision that exposure to coding is important to the
success of every student, regardless of what field they choose to pursue,” said
Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology officer. “We must all do more to encourage
greater interest in computer science in schools, especially for girls and
underrepresented students of color. Armed with coding skills they develop
throughout their academic careers, students will be much better prepared to
fill key roles in the digital businesses of the future. I am impressed
with the passion and energy that our Accenture people are showing in their
commitment to this important cause.”

“The need for people with STEM skills has never been
greater,” said Roxanne Taylor, Accenture’s chief marketing and communications
officer. “By 2020, there will be 1.2 million jobs requiring
computer-related skills in the U.S. alone. Yet the pipeline of graduates with
technology skills is lacking, especially among women. Code.org is helping to
reverse this trend by addressing the issue early in the education cycle. We
need to get young people excited about computer science long before they enter
college. Hour of Code is an amazing campaign that does just that.”

As part of its
collaboration with Code.org, senior Accenture leaders will join with employees
in 186 cities across 56 countries to
participate in Hour of Code activities including:

“Accenture is leading
by example in their efforts to support computer science education with a
company-wide commitment to help students start learning skills that will
prepare them for the best opportunities in any future career path,” said
Code.org CEO and Co-founder Hadi Partovi. “By not only looking inward into
their own organization, Accenture's support in classrooms and Code.org events
around the world will address some of the biggest issues faced by the
technology industry, helping make it more diverse, inclusive and available to
all people.”